


people throw rocks at things that shine

by theglitterati



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Kissing Booths, M/M, Pining Akaashi Keiji, ruminations on conformity and the benefits and drawbacks thereof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theglitterati/pseuds/theglitterati
Summary: Akaashi and Bokuto run a kissing booth at the school festival; Akaashi ponders why he's the more popular offering.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 15
Kudos: 258





	people throw rocks at things that shine

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Ours" by Taylor Swift. It's been a real Taylor few months.

“I want to say, for the record, that I think this is a terrible idea,” Akaashi said, sitting down behind the counter.

Bokuto flopped next to him, pouting. “You’ve said that ten times already!”

He’d said it twice. “And yet, here we are.” 

“Don’t be a party pooper. It’s gonna be fun!” Bokuto flipped the sign on the booth from _Closed_ to _Open_. 

Their shift at the kissing booth had begun.

This was not how Akaashi planned to spend his day at the school festival. His class was doing a tea room. That sounded nice. He could be upstairs, quietly pouring drinks and arranging flowers. Instead, he was here, sweating under the midday sun, selling his body for money so the team could go to training camp. 

“The basketball team is doing a bake sale,” he’d said weakly, when Konoha brought up the idea of a kissing booth. No one heard him over Bokuto loudly volunteering the two of them for the job.

“We’re captain and vice-captain!” Bokuto said. “We’re obviously gonna make the most money!”

This was not strictly true — Suzumeda or Sarukui would have done better — and it posed two separate, but related, problems for Akaashi. The first was that he did not relish the idea of watching Bokuto — who he was actively repressing his awkward crush on — kiss other people all day. The second—

A tall girl from Class 2-2 threw two 100-yen coins in the jar.

“One from both of us?” Bokuto asked.

“Two from Akaashi.”

This was exactly what he was worried about. The female population of Fukurodani, despite his lack of romantic interest in them, found Akaashi irresistible. He got confessions weekly, from students both older and younger. He spent the first six months of high school terrified of girls, begging his teammates to escort him to and from lunch so he wouldn’t be ambushed. Jealousy kept turnover high, and soon it was Bokuto accompanying him every day, scaring away suitors with his loud voice and louder hair. Unfortunately, during these walks, Akaashi fell for him, and now he was in the position of wanting a confession from the person who was supposed to be guarding him from them.

He accepted the girl’s kisses with a courteous smile while Bokuto cheered him on. It was as exciting as kissing an over-affectionate aunt. If he looked at it that way, Akaashi thought he could get through this.

But they just. Kept. Coming. Tall girls, short girls, older, younger — even a few alumni stopped by, and they all wanted Akaashi. Bokuto looked like he did when he didn’t get the ball during a rally. No one ordered a kiss from the ace.

“How many have you gotten now?” he asked, after a tiny girl with sharp teeth nearly made Akaashi’s lips bleed.

“Twelve, I think?”

Bokuto counted the coins in the can. “Nuh-uh! Thirteen! There’s thirteen coins in here!”

“Then I guess it’s thirteen,” Akaashi said. “It’s probably because all the girls in your year are busy. They’ll come by soon. See, look.” A girl from Bokuto’s own class approached the table. “Want a kiss from our captain?”

She grinned devilishly. “Nah, I came for you.”

Another coin clinked in the can. Bokuto’s hair deflated.

After an hour, Bokuto had half a kiss to Akaashi’s nineteen — Yukie had stopped by and kissed him on the cheek to distract him while she stole the candy he was eating. It didn’t really count, not least because she didn’t pay, but Akaashi let him have it. Meanwhile, Akaashi had kissed the captain of the girls’ soccer team, a first year who tried to slip him some tongue, and a shy boy from the basketball team who ran away immediately after.

After Akaashi’s twentieth customer, Bokuto asked the question Akaashi had dreaded all day: “Why doesn’t anyone wanna kiss me!?”

Why indeed. Akaashi had a theory, which, when extrapolated, also explained why everyone was so drawn to him.

People didn’t just want a partner who they liked, but also one who would reflect well on them. Akaashi was well-behaved, booksmart, and had reasonable hair. He tied his tie properly, tucked in his shirt, and buttoned his blazer. He could be a wet blanket, but he was a wet blanket your parents would approve of.

Bokuto was… none of those things, right down to the missing buttons on his jacket. He made a big impression on everyone he met, and to most people, that impression did not scream _kiss me!_ in the same way Akaashi’s quiet, polite demeanour did. Girls flocked to him and ran from Bokuto. Only Akaashi knew that, of the two of them, Bokuto was the one with the bigger heart.

“They’re intimidated by you,” Akaashi said, choosing to keep his hypothesis to himself. “It’s easier to ask me for a kiss because they all think you’re too cool for them.”

“Oh.” Bokuto smiled. “Okay!”

That buoyed his mood for a while, but Akaashi kept making bank. The excuses he made — “I went to middle school with her”; “I’ve heard she prefers shorter guys” — had diminishing returns on cheering Bokuto up. Finally, Akaashi took a bathroom break, both to wash his face and so Bokuto wouldn’t have to watch any more kissing.

In the washroom, Akaashi splashed water on his face. This was not how he thought this would go. _He_ was supposed to be the jealous one, watching Bokuto get kissed. But when did things ever go as planned when Bokuto was around?

Akaashi thought of Bokuto’s missing buttons and smiled at himself in the mirror.

When he returned to the booth, Bokuto was curled on the ground behind the counter, looking much smaller than should have been possible. Akaashi hurried toward him.

“Akaashi? Are you—”

Akaashi pulled a thousand-yen note from his pocket and thrust it at Bokuto’s chest. “Kiss me.”

Bokuto glanced from him to the money and back again. “Um, do you want change for that?”

“No, I don’t.” Akaashi fell to his knees, grabbed Bokuto’s stupid, undone tie and pulled him into a kiss.

He had kissed a lot of people that day, but none of their lips felt as good as Bokuto’s, chapped and dry and warm against his. Bokuto, either because of his unsold kisses or sheer enthusiasm, or maybe, just _maybe,_ requited feelings for Akaashi, kissed back eagerly. Akaashi took his opportunity and ran with it, sliding his tongue lightly against Bokuto’s lips and urging forward when they parted for him. Bokuto tasted like gummy worms, and kissing him felt like jumping into a pool and finding the water much warmer than expected.

Call him crazy, but Akaashi didn’t want sensible hair or booksmarts. He wanted long nights at the gym and early morning runs, whooping cheers and sweaty high-fives. He wanted Bokuto, and all his untucked shirts.

He wasn’t sure when his ten kisses were used up. If they counted from the moment their lips touched, they were still on number one, but this one kiss had lasted longer than the rest of Akaashi’s combined. They only broke apart when they could no longer breathe. Bokuto looked thoroughly mussed, and Akaashi knew he probably looked worse.

Bokuto checked his pockets, coming up with a pen, another pack of gummies, and a used train ticket. He frowned down at his hands.

“I want to keep kissing you, Akaashi,” he said, “but I don’t have any money!”

Akaashi giggled, something he was not sure he had ever done before. “For you, it’s free.” He kissed Bokuto again while reaching up to flip the sign on the booth from _Open_ to _Closed._

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed writing Akaashi as analytical and cerebral like this. I got to use a lot of big words.
> 
> You can find me at kyrstin.tumblr.com!


End file.
